Eternal Father, Strong to Save
by thecrystalkey
Summary: Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs. *On Hiatus* Note that this story has a complete plot, I just haven't had time to write the rest due to RL commitments. I do plan to complete this story once the biggest of those commitments ends. Ch. 10 possibly Christmas week, expect May 2013 for the rest.
1. Chapter 1

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save  
Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.  
**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either (though I wouldn't mind borrowing Gibbs occasionally), especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television.

**Author's note**: If you haven't seen NCIS, don't worry, it's not strictly necessary to understand this fic. That said, it's a quality show and worth catching some episodes. Lighter than 24 but if you like Jack Bauer, you'll like Gibbs.

**Story background:** A petty officer and her daughter have been tortured and murdered in Los Angeles. Out of leads, the local NCIS office calls on the best of the best: Special Agent Gibbs and his team. They find prints at the scene matching those of former CTU agent Jack Bauer.

* * *

-- 

She'd stood when he walked into the room. That, in itself, was unusual. As if Gibbs hadn't already figured out that this one was different. She couldn't lie worth a damn, either, which was why she was here now.

Her eyes followed him warily and never once flickered to the two-way glass behind him. All of her attention was on the man in front of her. She didn't sit until he did. Her eyes reminded him of a half-tame animal; not sure whether to stay, or follow her instincts and flee.

There was defiance under the wariness, Gibbs noted. It was an odd reaction, as most of hers had been up to now. Most female suspects took him for a nice guy at first, often even tried to flirt with him. Not Chloe O'Brian. Then again, she wasn't your average female suspect; she worked for the Counter-Terrorist Unit in LA. And, really, she wasn't even a suspect. They had one of those. She was just their link to him.

"Tell me where Jack Bauer is," Gibbs requested softly.

Her lips tightened a little but she remained silent, as she had been since they'd taken her into custody.

"We're going to find him," Gibbs promised her. "With or without your help. If you know where he is, it's your duty to help us. And if you cooperate now things will go a lot easier for you later."

She didn't need to speak with words, her expression spoke volumes. She didn't quite roll her eyes but it was close.

"Is he really worth going to jail for? Are you really willing to be arrested just to protect him?"

"Wouldn't be the first time," she muttered.

_And it's the rhetorical question that gets an answer,_ Gibbs thought with a mental headshake. "Your record doesn't show any arrests."

"The first time they let me resign instead of charging me. The second time, Jack was being framed. Just like now."

"We found his fingerprints at the scene."

"Then someone planted them," she said matter-of-factly. "He didn't do this."

"I'd like to hear that from him."

She rolled her eyes and went back to being silently defiant. She was good at it, Gibbs reflected twenty fruitless minutes later. It wasn't the stony silence that some people affected. She reacted to his questions, mostly with a series of sarcastic expressions and a couple of times with an oddly unsettling 'I see right through you and out the other side' look in her eyes.

She'd talk when it wasn't related to the case but as soon as the conversation got back to Jack Bauer that was it. Except for a repeated declaration of the man's innocence. She steadfastly refused to elaborate any further on how or why she was so convinced of that. She didn't waste time trying to think of lies, just refused to even open her mouth.

Bringing up the consequences of her protection of Jack Bauer got only a series of 'I know's and a couple of corrections on possible sentence lengths for accessory after the fact.

At that point, Gibbs retreated to the observation room until he could come up with a better strategy for questioning her. Caitlin, or as she preferred to be called, Kate Todd had been watching from behind the glass. Before he'd hired her, the tall brunette had worked for the Secret Service, and before that she'd trained as a profiler. It was the latter training that made her invaluable as an observer during interrogations.

"I don't think you're going to get anything out of her, Gibbs," Kate greeted his entrance to the observation room. "She's thought this all the way through."

"I could have told you that." The speaker was a stranger. Poised, clean-cut, grey hair, black suit. Some kind of LEO, Gibbs assessed, probably FBI.

"Who are you?"

"Her boss," the man answered. "Bill Buchanan, Director of CTU-LA. You're aware that Agent O'Brian is our Senior Systems Analyst?"

"Yes, I am. She's also protecting our primary suspect in a double torture and homicide. I don't care what you're the director of, I'm not going to let her go until and unless she gives me Jack Bauer."

"She's not going to," Buchanan repeated. "She's loyal to Jack, above everything but national security. And even then." The man shrugged.

"What do you know about their relationship?" Kate asked.

"Jack hired her to CTU when he was Director of Field Ops. She is, hands down, our best analyst. Jack was our best field agent in history. The two of them together are pretty close to unstoppable. Whenever he comes in as a consultant, it's understood that Chloe's his until the situation is over."

"There's more than a work relationship there," Kate commented.

"They're friends," Buchanan said.

"That's all?" she asked sceptically. "Just friends?"

"If they've ever slept together, it didn't change anything. Not that I think either of them would have let it. It's hard to explain unless you've seen them work together. I'd never seen anything like it until two years ago. There's this…insane level of trust there. I honestly think Jack would walk blindfolded into a building full of hostiles as long as Chloe was on comms telling him which way to go. And she'd hack into just about any system if Jack asked her to. She helped him stage his own death just over eighteen months ago. I've questioned her under similar circumstances to this before. You're not going to get anything out of her until she's sure it's too late for you to do anything about it."

"It doesn't bother you that your senior computer tech is loyal to someone with Bauer's history?" Gibbs asked.

"She's too good to fire. And there are other reasons to keep her on."

"Other reasons?" Gibbs asked.

"_Because_ she's loyal to Jack."

Thinking it over, Gibbs nodded in understanding.

"That makes no sense," Kate objected.

"Actually, it does," Gibbs corrected her. "Loyalty works two ways."

She looked her question at him, but it was Buchanan who explained.

"As long as she's at CTU, we have a line on Jack and stand a good chance of being kept in the loop on whatever they're working on. If we fire her, we lose what little control that gives us over Jack or the situation."

"It wouldn't shut him down completely?"

"She's hacked DoD, NSA and every other agency out there, for him. She got into Homeland Security and they were deliberately trying to keep her out. Hell, she hacked CTU the one time she ended up out in the field with him."

"But those other times were from within CTU, right?"

"Without any of her authorization codes. Let me explain something to you. When Jack gets involved in a situation, it's usually as a personal favour to the president. Which means that's the only person he has to report to. He works with us because Chloe works for us. If we fire Chloe and yank her clearance, all Jack needs to do is make a phone call to have her clearance re-instated. And we lose any idea of what's going on unless Jack feels like keeping us updated."

"Does she know that's why you keep her on?"

"They both do. It's convenient for them because they both know our system and trust us to work with them instead of against them. Jack gets access to CTU's resources and we get," he sighed, "whatever control Jack is willing to give us."

"What does Chloe get?"

Buchanan thought about it for almost a minute before answering. "Honestly, I have no idea. The point is, as long as she's sure Jack is innocent of this, she's not going to be of any use to you."

"You don't sound especially unhappy about it," Kate noted.

"I don't think he did it, either," Buchanan said, coolly. "The man's crossed a lot of lines, but this isn't one of them. And in her defence, if Chloe thought he had, she'd have been the first in line to turn him in."

"We have his fingerprints at the scene," Gibbs pointed out.

"Offhand, I can think of at least two ways to manage that without his ever having set foot there," Buchanan said. "That said, it doesn't mean I don't think he should come in." He paused, turning his head to look at O'Brian through the glass for a moment, before looking back over at Gibbs. "I'd like to talk to her."

--

This time Gibbs watched with Kate from the observation room. O'Brian had stood again when the door opened and that look was back in her eyes.

"She's feeling vulnerable," Kate commented. "Unsure what's going to happen next, but pretty sure it's not going to be good."

"CTU-LA has a reputation for being willing to get its hands dirty to get answers in a hurry," Gibbs explained. "They take the words 'all necessary measures' literally."

"You mean – she expects to be tortured?" Kate sounded horrified. "Is that why you let Buchanan go in? So that she'll think that?"

"She'd think that anyway, Kate," Gibbs corrected her softly. "She looked at me like that, too." And it bothered him that she had.

--

"Mr. Buchanan." Chloe felt her spine straighten reflexively. Buchanan was in a bad mood and it was because of her. And it had something to do with Jack. This wasn't the first time and it probably wouldn't be the last.

"What the hell is going on here, Chloe?" he demanded.

"Jack didn't do what they're saying he did."

"This is according to Jack?" he asked sarcastically.

"Not just." She bit her lip to stop herself from telling Buchanan everything. Unless she could be sure that he would help instead of hinder, she had to stay silent.

"Then what else, Chloe? Help me to understand what's going on here. Two women were tortured and killed, Jack's fingerprints were found at the scene."

"Leaving aside the fact that there are some lines Jack wouldn't cross, and you _know_ that, he's the best field agent CTU ever had. Do you really think he'd leave evidence as obvious as his own fingerprints at the scene of a crime he actually committed?" She paused as she actually heard what she'd just said. "That, sounded bad," she added, "but it's true."

--

"The adversarial approach certainly seems to be working," Kate murmured, back in the observation room.

"I don't think it's the change in approach that changed her answers."

"You think it's because this is someone she knows? Or because it's someone else who knows Bauer? Someone she stands a chance of convincing?"

"She's starting to convince me," Gibbs said without taking his eyes off the two in the interrogation room.

"What?"

"If Bauer is as good as his file says and those two seem to think, then she has a point. He's been trained to get away with murder. Literally. Why would he get sloppy all of a sudden?"

"Sloppy?" Kate asked. "We had to process _everything_ at that scene to get one print."

"Exactly," Gibbs said quietly. "Sloppy."

"Maybe he wanted to get caught," she suggested.

"Then why run?"

"Well, if Bauer didn't do it, who did?"

"Unfortunately, I think he's the one we need to be asking that."

--

* * *

_Review. It does a body good._


	2. Chapter 2

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 2)  
Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.  
**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either (though I wouldn't mind borrowing Gibbs occasionally), especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television.

**Author's Note:** Spelling corrections now made to this chapter. Thanks to _AragothwinElfBlade_ and _Abs_, who caught them. This is what happens when I post while on a coffee high. Also, fixed the lawyer writing thing. Some days I'm slower than others.

* * *

--

_She looks miserable_, Buchanan thought. It was a familiar expression on Chloe's face, just like this was a familiar situation. She'd been caught, yet again, holding Jack's secrets while the man himself was out in the field. Chloe was generally snippy and sarcastic, but the only times Bill had seen her looking this unhappy were when she was called on the carpet to answer questions about something she'd just done for Jack Bauer. Something Jack had asked her to keep a secret.

Usually upping the ante would get information out of her. And most of the time, he wished he hadn't asked. Jack was a prodigy of the 'you can't be ordered not to do something you haven't told anyone you planned' school of field command. But the last few times Bill had had this conversation with Chloe, she'd only spilled what she knew because she'd been certain there was nothing he could do about it anymore. Bill had a feeling that that wasn't the case this time. Time for a different approach.

"As it happens, I agree with you. I don't think Jack did this."

"But you still want him arrested."

"Not necessarily. I'd at least like to talk to him."

"Agent Gibbs wants to arrest him. And I'm pretty sure _he_'s the one in charge here. Sorry."

Bill wasn't sure whether he wanted to laugh or yell at her. Her 'sorry' was so genuine after her stubborn refusal to cooperate.

"I could call him myself."

"He switched phones, but I'm guessing you already know that. You won't be able to get his new number off mine. Or my computer."

"Is he likely to call you at home?" Gibbs asked from the door. Normally, he wouldn't have interrupted an interrogation in progress, but their conversation had started to seem more like negotiations than questioning.

"No. He knows I've been brought in for questioning by you. Just like he knows who's investigating and how much you know."

Gibbs' eyes widened as the implications of that smug little declaration hit him. Buchanan, meanwhile, was struck by a suspiciously-timed cough. Gibbs' hand had automatically reached for his cell phone, but he stopped himself from immediately calling McGee, his computer security expert, and yelling.

"You hacked us?" he demanded.

"I refuse to answer that."

Gibbs made himself calm down. At least enough that he wouldn't be yelling. She'd flinched when he raised his voice and it bothered him. Something about her was bringing out his protective instincts. He'd have to watch that. Good thing she was also irritating the hell out of him.

"What if I promise not to hold it against you?" he asked tightly.

"I don't know you," she said with a shrug. "I don't know what that's worth."

"Chloe, just answer the man," Buchanan ordered her.

She took a moment to glare at him. "Fine." She turned to Gibbs. "Yes, I hacked you. I didn't even need to go through CTU. You should fire your ITS."

"Chloe." No one could drive Bill up the wall faster than Chloe O'Brian, and it was starting to look like the same was going to be true of Gibbs. It wouldn't help her or Jack if she antagonized the NCIS agent any further.

"And hire you?" Gibbs asked, only half-kidding.

"I'm not looking for a new job." Her eyes slid sideways to the expression on her current boss' face. "Yet."

"If my IT guy were to go looking, would he find any traces that you were there?"

"He might get lucky but, judging by your amateur security protocols, probably not."

Buchanan closed his eyes as though praying for patience. Gibbs had already decided to let the 'amateur' comment slide. Though he was sure it would come up when Kate filled McGee in later.

"You're that good?" Gibbs asked.

"Yes."

"Why are you protecting Bauer?"

"Because he's innocent."

"It would be more convincing if he was the one telling me that. And you know that. So why won't you even put us in touch with him?"

"You'll trace the call."

"If he's as good as you think he is, he'd be gone before we got there."

She bit her lip. "He can't."

"Can't be as good as you think?"

She snorted in derision. "Can't leave. There are lives at stake. I can't tell you any more."

"More lives than just Jack's?" Buchanan asked.

"Yeah," she said in her best 'duh' voice. "If you trace the call and go after Jack now, innocent people will die." She thought about Jacquie Seldler and her daughter. "More innocent people."

"I believe you," Gibbs said.

"What? Just like that?"

"Not exactly. I still want to talk to him. But I believe you that going after him right now would put lives, including Bauer's, in danger. I want to arrest him, not get him killed."

She nodded. "Okay. Fine. But what's that supposed to mean to me? I don't know you and I don't trust you."

And what the hell had Bauer done that she trusted him as much as she seemed to, Gibbs wondered. What was she getting for her loyalty and trust besides being used by both sides? And how was Gibbs supposed to convince her that he was serious about not tracing Bauer? Then he had an idea.

"I'm guessing you read my file?" he asked her.

She nodded a little. "Not the classified parts," she qualified.

Implying that she could have read those if she'd wanted to. Jesus. No wonder Buchanan wouldn't fire her. The thought of her as a free agent was terrifying; especially when he thought of the more unscrupulous groups around (within and outside the government) that wouldn't hesitate to use her for their own ends, whether she was willing or not. Then Gibbs thought of what he'd read in Bauer's file and wasted a moment pitying anyone stupid enough to try kidnapping her. _Loyalty works two ways_.

"Then you know that when I make deals, I keep them."

She nodded again.

"I'm offering you a deal. You agree to fix the holes in our computer system and I'll agree not to try tracking Bauer if you put us in touch with him."

"You and your people. None of you tries to track him. And I want it in writing."

"None of us will try to track him. It will take awhile to get it in writing, though."

"It can't take that long. It's not an immunity agreement. It's not like you have to get hold of the President to get it signed. And I can't fix your ITS issues right away. It'll take at least a week, probably two. They'll need to be rebuilt from the ground up. Luckily, I did that for CTU when Jack hired me, so I won't have to work completely from scratch."

"Done."

--

* * *

_Review. It does a body good._


	3. Chapter 3

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 3)  
Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.  
**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either (though I wouldn't mind borrowing Gibbs occasionally), especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television.

**Author's Note: **Special thanks to _BD_ for the title suggestion. It's the Navy hymn and I hope no one takes offence at my using it for a title. Corrections now made to Chapters 2 and this one. Thanks to those who caught them. To all my reviewers, you guys are awesome.  
Thanks.

* * *

-- 

Chloe stood in the centre of the elevator, arms crossed in front of her, eyes on the floor. She knew she should straighten her shoulders, stand tall; she was doing the right thing here. But she really just wished she were invisible. As invisible as she used to be, before Jack came back. Even six months ago, no one would ever have connected her to Jack; except maybe Erin Driscoll or Michelle Dessler. The cops wouldn't have bothered talking to Driscoll and Michelle wouldn't have said anything. Of course, six months ago, she would also have thought that no one would frame a dead man for murder.

She felt eyes on her and slid her gaze to the left to see Agent Gibbs watching her thoughtfully. She looked away quickly, dropping her eyes back down to the floor. The older man reminded her a bit of Jack; only leaner and with grey hair. And less hard, somehow. She didn't trust Gibbs, of course, but she did wonder if the NCIS agent didn't represent a glimpse into what Jack might have been like if he'd gone into a law enforcement field that was less harsh than the world CTU operated in. Not that she doubted they saw some horrible things as NCIS agents but, Jack had had to do some pretty terrible things instead of just working through the aftermath.

Gibbs, Todd and Buchanan had all initially disappeared to deal with the paperwork Chloe had insisted on for her deal with the senior NCIS agent. She'd been surprised when Gibbs had come down himself to bring her the signed agreement. He'd dismissed the security guy who had tried to insist on escorting her and had walked her to the elevators himself. Buchanan and Kate Todd were waiting upstairs, Gibbs had explained, with the other two NCIS agents that Gibbs had brought with him from Virginia.

She looked over again to see the grey-haired agent still watching her. "What?" she asked, irritably.

"You really think he's innocent?"

No point asking who 'he' was. "Of this? Yes."

"You know that you could have asked for immunity for yourself, in exchange for turning him over to us. Or even as a part of the deal we actually made. Instead, you asked for precautions to protect Bauer."

"Is that, supposed to be a question?" she asked, finally looking at him when the silence stretched too long.

"Just an observation. How did he know to go dark? You didn't get a chance to make any phone calls between when Agent Todd and I knocked on your door and when we processed you here." He paused. "That _was_ a question."

She smiled briefly. "I got that, thanks," she assured him sarcastically. She hesitated another moment. "I knew you were coming. I picked up your phone call to Agent McGee on the call logs here. Every call into and out of this building is recorded and I had your numbers flagged on my system. Whenever you made a call, I got a copy of the recording."

"How did you know we'd take you in?"

"I didn't. But…I suck at lying, so the odds were pretty high that you would. What did Kim Bauer tell you that sent you straight to me?"

"Nothing specific," Gibbs said, still watching her thoughtfully. "There was just something about the way she talked when your name came up. Like there was some kind of history between you and her involving her father."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "I can't believe she still hasn't gotten over that. It's not like I didn't explain it. She complains when he puts her in danger, she complains when he tries to keep her out of it."

"You thought you explained what?"

"It's complicated. They have…trust issues, both of them," she said, deliberately vague. Chloe really didn't want to get into the details of Jack's resurrection six months ago. "With each other, especially. I…ended up in the middle the last time."

"Bauer trusts you over her?" Gibbs asked.

She shrugged. "Kim thinks so."

"You don't?"

"I really don't know," she snapped. "Personally, I think it has more to do with who he's willing to put in danger. But that's just me. You'd have to ask Jack." The elevator stopped and the door slid open. "Finally."

O'Brian was out the door before it was completely open. Gibbs followed more slowly. He knew that she didn't know where she was going; she was just trying to escape his questions. He really didn't think she was a flight risk anymore, if she ever had been, so he wasn't worried. He quickly caught up to the CTU agent, not hard since she'd stopped just outside the elevator doors, and then led her through the halls to the conference room he and his team had taken over for the duration of the case.

--

Entering the room behind Gibbs, Chloe quickly identified the two new people by the pictures she'd seen in their NCIS personnel files.

Anthony DiNozzo was thin and taller than her. Well, he was taller than everyone but Bill Buchanan, who was also in the room along with Kate Todd. DiNozzo had short brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing what looked like an expensive suit, though right now the jacket was draped over the back of a chair and his shirt sleeves had been rolled up. His hair was in spikes, as though he'd been running his hands through it.

The other person in the room that she hadn't yet met was Timothy McGee, Gibbs' so-called computer security expert. He had a degree from MIT, anyway. He, too, had brown hair but it was cut much shorter than DiNozzo's, and he had brown eyes instead of blue. McGee was shorter than his fellow field agents and, while not fat, he wasn't exactly slim, either, in comparison. He was sitting in front of what Chloe recognized as her laptop, looking frustrated. Next to him, apparently abandoned, she recognized her cell phone, though it was now in pieces. She ducked her head to cover her smile as Gibbs did a quick round of introductions.

"What did you to do to it?" McGee demanded of Chloe once the formalities were done.

"The phone, or the laptop?" Chloe asked him. She couldn't quite keep the patronizing tone out of her voice. It was probably good that he was so frustrated he didn't seem to notice.

"Both. Either."

"The phone's fried," she informed him smugly. "How I did it is classified, but even if you could get it working, it will have been wiped completely clean. The laptop is locked down using a program I designed for CTU field ops. And I'm not about to tell you how to get around that."

"I thought you made a deal with Gibbs?" McGee asked, looking from her to his boss.

"For a phone call," she explained, before Gibbs could answer, in her talking-to-idiots voice. "Not to give you classified information."

"Chloe." It was all Buchanan needed to say.

She made a face, looked around the room. "I need access to my laptop. Just to be sure you aren't trying anything. It's not that I don't trust you but, I don't trust you."

"We have a signed agreement," Gibbs pointed out.

"Then you won't mind my making sure you're abiding by it," she said, meeting his eyes. Their stares held for a moment but she didn't back down. She'd faced down Jack Bauer on some of the worst days of his life, facing down anyone else was easy by comparison.

"McGee, let her on her laptop," Gibbs ordered. "But _watch her_."

McGee got up and moved behind his chair. Chloe was rapidly typing commands out on the keyboard before she even sat down. The welcome screen came up and she quickly set up a connection to their network. It was much easier to do from inside the building than it had been over the internet.

Chloe could hear McGee mumbling to himself as he tried to follow what she was doing. From what she could make out, he wasn't doing very well. What a shame. She pulled up the program they used to filter calls into and out of the building and set it to ignore the phone in the conference room for all future calls. Or, at least, until she changed it back.

"Wait," McGee objected from behind. "Can you even do that?"

"Uh, yeah," Chloe answered, now checking to make sure nothing he'd done had damaged any of her other systems.

"What did she do, McGee?" Gibbs asked in a dangerous voice.

"She – basically she made the conference room phone invisible to the network. Not only _can't_ we trace any calls made to or from this phone, they won't even get logged or recorded. I didn't even think you could do that."

"O'Brian," Gibbs growled.

"I'll put it back when you're done talking to Jack," she assured him impatiently. "Can we get on with this?"

"Got somewhere else to be?" DiNozzo asked with a flirtatious smirk.

She just looked at him like he was from another planet, then shook her head dismissively and reached for the phone in the centre of the table. She shielded the keypad as best she could while she quickly tapped in Jack's cell number.

--

While the others, even Director Buchanan, gathered around the blond computer analyst and the phone she was dialing, Kate Todd deliberately stayed back. Keeping her distance and observing, much as she'd done from behind the glass in the observation room below.

Watching the other woman at work on the computer, Kate had decided Chloe O'Brian was probably at least as good as she thought she was. Now, though, Kate focused on getting as accurate an impression of Jack Bauer as she could just from the man's voice. She knew Gibbs would ask her later and if McGee was right, they wouldn't have a recording to play back.

"Yeah," the voice that answered the phone was undeniably masculine. And not a little sexy, but that particular observation Kate intended to keep to herself. She'd never live it down if DiNozzo found out she thought anything about a suspect was sexy. Bauer's voice was raspy, as though he was trying to keep it low, and his tone was harsh.

"Jack, it's me. I'm calling from NCIS, but please don't hang up. They're not tracing the call, they just wanna talk to you." O'Brian had speeded up her words as she spoke so that the last sentence was almost one long word.

"Chloe?" Bauer's voice had changed completely. Softer, and…the only word Kate could think of was, gentler than his original greeting. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Jack. I'm fine," O'Brian's voice had softened, too. And the computer analyst was almost smiling as she spoke. "I made a deal with the NCIS agents. They get to talk to you but not trace the call and I'm gonna fix their ITS when this is over."

"Okay. Do you trust them to keep the deal?"

"I don't have to. I'm in their system. They _can't_ trace this call. Their system won't even acknowledge this phone exists until I let it. I wouldn't have called you if I wasn't sure."

"I know." There wasn't even a hint of doubt in his voice. "Who else is on?"

"Agents Gibbs, Todd, DiNozzo, and McGee from NCIS. And Mr. Buchanan is here as well."

"Bill?" Bauer's voice had changed again, becoming harder edged. More professional, less friendly. Not by enough that anyone else seemed to notice it, but Kate did. "What are you doing there?"

"I came to see how you'd managed to get Chloe arrested _this_ time, Jack. What the hell is going on?"

Bauer sighed. "I don't exactly know yet, Bill. It started out as a personal favour, which is why we haven't contacted CTU. A friend of mine's in trouble. It'll take too long to explain over the phone. The more I talk, the more likely I am to give my position away. Chloe?" And, again, as soon as he said O'Brian's name, his voice changed back to that softer tone.

"Yeah, Jack. I already told them you didn't kill Jacquie or Francine Seldler. And that there was more than your life in danger, if they tried to take you in now. I wasn't sure how much else to tell them."

"Do you think they believe you?"

"Buchanan does. Agent Gibbs…says so. But I can't tell if he's lying. Sorry."

Kate noted to herself that the apology seemed to be directed as much at Gibbs as at Bauer.

"It's okay," Bauer assured her. There was silence on the line for a second. "Fill them in, Chloe. What we know. What we suspect. Call me back when you're done."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Jack" O'Brian said. But there was no real dobt in her voice, more like…resignation. "I'll call you back soon."

--

* * *

_Review. It does a body good._

More to follow soon. I'm trying to stick to a weekly update schedule. Not sure if RL will let me, but that's the plan.


	4. Chapter 4

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 4)  
Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.  
**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either (though I wouldn't mind borrowing Gibbs occasionally), especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television.

**Author's Note: **Hah. I worked this weekend and I managed to get this out. Go, me. Corrections now made to Chapter 3, nothing major but they were bugging me.  
I keep getting compliments about how in character everybody is so far, so I'd like to take this opportunity to extend my thanks to those that I keep peppering with emails along the lines of 'would it be out of character for so-and-so to do such-and-such?' Couldn't do this without you. Anyone acting OOC is, of course, my own fault. As a point of interest, I _hate_ having this many characters in a room together. Constructive criticism is, as always, appreciated.  
Special thanks to _Abs_ and _BD_ for helping me out of the corner I'd written myself into, you both know what I mean.

* * *

-- 

"Chloe?" Buchanan prompted her.

She'd been staring into space since she'd hung up the phone, trying to collect her thoughts. She'd been running, figuratively anyway, since early yesterday morning. But between getting whatever information that Jack had last asked for, tracking the NCIS investigation, and anticipating Jack's next move; she hadn't had a lot of time to get everything that had happened into an order that would make sense to someone else. Oh well, when in doubt, start at the beginning.

"Jack called me at 4am yesterday morning—"

"You mean this morning?" Kate interrupted to ask.

"No," Chloe said impatiently. "If I'd meant this morning, I would have said this morning. Yes-ter-day morning. Jack called and asked me to trace a phone call he'd gotten less than five minutes before. I couldn't backtrace the signal since it wasn't an active call but I did trace the number. It was a payphone in the warehouse district down by the port. Jack said that a friend of his from when he worked for Secretary Heller had called him and told him that he had been kidnapped. They claimed to have his wife and daughter and said they would hurt them and then kill them if he didn't cooperate and work for them. He wanted Jack to check up on them and help them if they were in trouble."

"Jacquie and Francine Selder," Gibbs murmured. "Bauer's friend is Michael Selder. The husband. We've been looking for him, too."

Chloe nodded, pleased that someone was managing to follow the explanation. "Jack wanted to see if we could find Mike first, but the payphone turned out to be a dead end. Jack…talked, to some of the locals and they told him that a man matching Mike's description escaped from an unmarked van a few blocks away from the phone and was last seen being loaded, unconscious, back into the van."

"So Jack went to the Selders' house and found the bodies," Buchanan predicted the next part of the story.

"Yeah," Chloe confirmed. "Except that NCIS was already there by then. Not your team," she said to Gibbs, "the one you took over from. He went in to the scene, found a matchbook that had fallen out of one of the guys' pocket's and went to check out the bar it was from."

"Wait," Gibbs ordered. "Are you telling me that the situation with this field office is actually _worse_ than I thought? Did March's team really just _let_ some guy off the street walk into a crime scene and walk off with evidence?"

DiNozzo was shaking his head looking almost as pissed off as Gibbs, McGee looked appalled at the thought, and Todd looked…like she was thinking too hard about the implications to have decided on a reaction yet.

"I somehow doubt 'let' is the right word for it," Buchanan murmured.

Chloe bit her lip to keep from smiling, not wanting Gibbs's anger to fall on her, even as she noted that Buchanan seemed to be enjoying watching someone else playing catch up to a Jack Bauer self-appointed mission. When Gibbs gave up glaring at the CTU Director and turned his attention back to Chloe, she shrugged uncomfortably.

"I don't know how bad you think the situation is here, I don't even know _what_ you think the situation is here, but Mr. Buchanan's right. Let isn't exactly the right word. I arranged for Jack to be on the cleared personnel list for the scene, so it's not like it was just some random civilian walking in."

"Arranged?" Gibbs asked. His voice had slipped into that dangerously reasonable tone again.

"I put him on the list, okay?" she clarified impatiently. "Do you want to hear the rest of this or not?"

"It's not okay," Gibbs ground out. "But go on. You and McGee can discuss that later. Along with how he can make sure it doesn't happen again. Right, McGee?"

McGee looked startled to be addressed. "Um, you do know that I'm not technically in charge of NCIS computer security, right, boss?"

"McGee."

The younger agent sighed. "Right, boss. Whatever you say."

DiNozzo and Todd were grinning at each other over the junior field agent's discomfort. And at his having been assigned an impossible job, if Chloe was reading them right. She could have been mistaken, but she didn't think so. She'd spent enough time hanging out with Chase Edmunds and his siblings, before Chase had moved away from LA, to be able to read that kind of look. Juveniles.

"Whatever," Chloe said, with a shake of her head. "Jack went to the bar that was advertised on the matchbook. It was back downtown again, in an even worse part of town than Mike had called him from. It took awhile but he managed to get the names of some guys who were involved in the killings and then find out where they were staying. They led him back to the others who'd been involved. There was a fight and they all…ended up dead but not before Jack managed to get the location that they were holding Mike out of the leader. When he got there, he managed to get inside their perimeter. He's been observing the place. Trying to find a way to get in closer without being spotted. He wanted to confirm that that's really where Mike is being held, and that that they're making him work on what Jack thinks they're making him work on, before calling anybody, even CTU."

"What does Jack think they're making him work on?" Buchanan asked.

"I don't know," Chloe answered. "It's classified. We're pretty sure the people holding Mike are terrorists and Jack thinks that it's related to what Mike was working on with him when he was Special Advisor to Secretary Heller. Until and unless he's sure it's the same thing and that it's an immediate threat, he can't talk about it."

"Do you know Michael Seldler?" Kate asked.

Chloe shook her head, confused by the question. "No. Why?"

"You keep calling him Mike," DiNozzo pointed out.

Chloe sighed. "I've been working on finding the guy for over twenty-four hours without sleep. Jack calls him Mike, is it _that_ surprising that I picked it up?"

"You explanation seems kind of short for that long a time span," Gibbs observed. "How much did you leave out?"

"A lot of boring details that I'll be willing to discuss for however long you want, _after_ Jack is safe. Preferably, after Jack and Mike are both safe and we've got the whatever-it-is that Jack won't talk about. Right now, you know everything about this that I do."

"Not quite," Gibbs said thoughtfully. "You just admitted that Bauer was on the scene of the crime after it happened. But you said earlier that the fingerprints we found there had been planted. Why the change?"

"It's not a change," she said. "He didn't leave his fingerprints there when he was looking around, so somebody _must_ have planted them. We don't know who or why or even when they did it, but they did."

"How do you know he didn't leave his prints while he was there?"

"Because that was the first thing we considered that when the match came up in your system. He was wearing gloves the whole time. That means that the print you found has to have been put there by someone else."

"But, why?" Kate asked.

"I just told you," Chloe answered. "I don't know. Maybe for just this reason. Maybe they figured out who Mike called, or made him tell them or something, and they decided getting him arrested was the best way to keep him out of the way."

"That's…fairly elaborate just to get a guy out of the way," DiNozzo commented.

"This could also all be aimed at Jack somehow," Buchanan pointed out before Chloe had to. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"I'll withhold judgment on how the print got there," Gibbs decided after a moment of silent thought. "Since I agree that our priority at this point should be getting Bauer and Seldler out of danger. The rest we can figure out later."

When he looked at Chloe she nodded to show she was willing to accept that. It was, after all, the same priority she had just at the moment. Buchanan nodded as well when Gibbs looked over at him.

--

* * *

_Review. It does a body good._

Okay, so the matchbook thing was a little CSI, but sometimes the KISS principle is a good one to follow even in 24land. Next update will probably be early since I'm on a roll with this and am finally getting to what was originally Chapter 3, so it's pretty much already written. Just in my head. In fact, there will probably be more than one chapter out over the next week, barring a failure of imagination on my part, since I'm going to be spending nine hours on a plane on Friday and I'd rather be writing this than my First-Year Report.


	5. Chapter 5

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 5)  
Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.  
**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either (though I wouldn't mind borrowing Gibbs occasionally), especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television.

**Author's Note: **Okay, so, here's the thing, if they manage to do the right thing and finally kill Audrey tragically on Monday this chapter is going to change to reflect that (in celebration of her long overdue death or turning evil). I mean, she's wearing a bright white coat in the middle of a gunfight. I know this is 24 but, come on. There has to be a reason for that coat, it hasn't had a purpose yet, so it must be to make her an unmissable target, right?

* * *

-- 

Jack checked his watch for the second time in ten minutes, wondering what was taking so long. It had been over twenty minutes since he'd hung up with Chloe at NCIS and while there was a lot to explain, Chloe was used to being succinct without leaving anything important out. Twenty minutes was more than enough time.

It had been such a relief to hear her voice that the emotion had managed to briefly overwhelm his knee-jerk concern that she was calling him on behalf of the people trying to arrest him. Her quick explanation had pre-empted that concern while he was still trying to reassure himself that she was really all right. He had never truly believed that she'd have called him without having done her best to secure the line first. He would sooner doubt himself than doubt Chloe.

What Chloe had told him of Gibbs' record, that he always got his suspect regardless of rank or pressure from above, had given Jack the impression that the man would never let an opportunity pass to find a suspect. Much less a phone call that he could control. It should have been a setup, despite Chloe's apparent co-operation, but the whole deal had made more sense when she'd included Bill Buchanan on the list of people in the room.

Bill seemed to have a soft spot for Chloe, repeatedly turning a blind eye to her less sanctioned activites, including some outright illegal ones. Of course, since those activities were generally on behalf of Jack himself, he supposed it could be said that Bill had that soft spot for him. Somehow, Jack didn't think so. From what he knew of the CTU Director, it was more likely Chloe's belief that she had done the right thing (generally followed by proof that she had when it turned out that Jack had been right in whatever lead he was following) that had kept her out of a CTU holding cell while the agency was under Buchanan's management.

With Bill involved, there was a good chance he'd talk them into releasing Chloe, at least into CTU custody. Jack hoped to hell he did, anyway, because he was alone out here. He had no partner since Chloe had been taken into NCIS custody, there was no backup waiting or on its way. He'd been fine getting through their outer perimeter, leaving no trace of his infiltration to raise a flag, but as soon as he'd gotten into a position with a decent view of the main building, he'd realized he was in deep trouble.

He had known he was on his own since before he'd even gotten here, Chloe had called him while he was in transit to say that NCIS were about to knock on her door. It was just his luck that Chloe had dropped out of contact just when he needed her skills the most. The only thing likely to get him through the maze of sentries and seemingly random patrols around the main building undetected was somebody directing him via infrared satellite. Somebody he trusted, by preference. A short list, at the top of which was Chloe's name.

Not one to just give up, Jack had waited close to two hours, moving to different points all around the compound, trying to find an exploitable weakness in their defenses. He had actually been close to calling Bill and requesting CTU's assistance, playing on the common knowledge within CTU that he only ever entered the field these days by presidential request.

Given what Jack knew about Mike's work, these were probably terrorists, but probably wasn't exactly justification for a full scale raid or even a single team rescue operation. Bill would likely have wanted him to pull out and leave things for CTU to deal with. Jack usually trusted Buchanan, but he didn't trust the CTU Director's priorities in this case. As far as Jack was concerned, they needed more intel on what was going on here before moving in. What kind of operation needed this many men to run? Who were these people and what were they after? Those questions needed answers before he could even justify rescuing Mike.

Calling Bill would have been a last resort in any case. It would take too long for a Tac Team to get here for Jack's peace for mind. This place was in the middle of nowhere and these kidnappers would only need Mike alive for so long.

Jack knew how Bill would react because he would have reacted the same way when he had been the Agent-in-Charge at CTU. He should still react the same way but he was tired of losing friends and was determined to do everything in his power to get Mike to safety before taking the people who had him down.

With Chloe there Jack had a better chance of convincing the CTU Director to follow his lead; and with Bill there, Jack had a better chance of convincing Gibbs to let Chloe go. If he could at least get them to hand custody of her to Buchanan, then she'd be back in play almost immediately. They would both get chewed out later, but that would be later and Jack would do his best to shield Chloe from that.

Not that Bill seemed inclined to blame her for this. _I wanted to see how you'd managed to get her arrested this time_. Emphasis on those last two words because this was the fifth time and counting. Buchanan couldn't possibly know how deep a nerve that comment had struck. In his darkest moments Jack wondered why Chloe hadn't abandoned him yet. All the other women in his life that hadn't ended up dead had done so.

The most hurtful being the last two; his daughter, Kim, and his ex-lover, Audrey Raines. Kim, at least, didn't pretend; she wanted nothing to do with him directly, though she did manage to call Chloe once every two weeks like clockwork to ask about him. And to give an update on her life since, she'd said, Chloe would probably be keeping an eye on her anyway.

Audrey had done worse, lying to him about how she wanted to try again before leaving for DC. Jack had stayed in LA at the President Gardner's request, doing mop-up from Logan's failed plans. He'd had to find out from Audrey's father that while she'd been telling him over the phone that she loved and missed him, she had already moved on to some political hotshot.

Jack's train of thought was, thankfully, interrupted by the vibration of his phone as it rang silently in his pocket. He hit the answer button on his headset, continuing to keep track of the movement below him through his sniper scope. The rifle it belonged to was still in pieces in his bag but the scope had night-vision and was useful on its own.

"Yeah," he answered quietly.

"Jack," Bill Buchanan's voice came over the line. "Chloe told us as much as she knows. Agent Gibbs has agreed to hold off on any further action against you until such time as you and Mike Seldler are out of danger."

Jack sighed. More than he'd expected, less than he'd hoped for. "I need more than that, Bill. I can't get any closer to the compound, much less get to Mike, on my own. I need Chloe back on if you want that to happen."

"Do you really think that now is the time to be demanding the release of your accomplice, Mr. Bauer?" Gibbs asked.

Jack closed his eyes in a short, non-specific prayer for patience and managed to hold the swear words he wanted to say behind his lips. "I'm alone out here and I'm not going to be able to get to Mike without help. Infrared satellite coverage, to be specific. I need Chloe to do that."

"There are other people –" Gibbs started.

Jack didn't let him finish. "Not that I'd trust with this. Bill, will you explain this to him?"

"I thought I already had, Jack. Give me a minute."

Jack heard Buchanan and Gibbs' voices in a low conversation, out of range for the words to be audible.

"Chloe, are you still there?" he asked while Bill and Gibbs were conferring.

"Go ahead, Jack."

Jack smiled on hearing her voice. They hadn't sent her back down to holding, after all. Good. "You heard?"

"Yeah, Jack. I'd already be on it but they won't let me on the computer since I messed with their phone system. How big an area are you going to need coverage of?"

"Just the compound. I'm only going in to locate Mike and see what I can find out about this group. They're extremely well organized and have a lot of manpower. We need intel before anything else."

"Do you want the feed downloaded to your PDA?"

"Not unless I have to. I want to have both hands free, just in case."

--

* * *

_Review. It does a body good._

A/N: So much for early. It would have been early if I'd stuck with Chloe. Jack's head is a lot more difficult to get into. OTOH, the second half of this conversation will be posted in the next couple of days. Hope everyone's enjoying the long weekend.


	6. Chapter 6

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 6)  
Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.  
**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either (though I wouldn't mind borrowing Gibbs occasionally), especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television.

**Author's Note: **So much for early. You all should know better than to expect that from me by now. Bad, writer, bad. :) Weekly updates is a pretty big step for me, as a point of interest. Take what you can get.

I only proofread this once and I'm not completely sure about the beginning (suggestions welcome) but I'm tired and jetlagged and if I don't post this now, I'm gonna screw up my deadline-keeping (and I've been so good it's a shame to break my streak). So, here it is.

On a side note, how low _is_ Audrey's blood pressure? Or did Henderson just miss the artery? All my hopes shattered. Oh, well. Less work for me, I guess. Does anybody else actually like Miles, or is that just me?

* * *

-- 

While Chloe and Jack were discussing the details of the satellite coverage he would need, Bill Buchanan and Jethro Gibbs were talking quietly but heatedly in a corner.

"She's just admitted to being an accomplice to everything Bauer's done today," Gibbs argued. "I am _not_ going to just let her go because he says so."

"You don't have to let her go. Sign her over to CTU custody, we'll have her under guard while she works and you can have her back at the end of the day."

"No. As far as I'm concerned, she's an accomplice to murder until I see proof that Bauer didn't do it. She's not going anywhere." For Gibbs, that was the end of the argument. He'd pitched his voice loud enough on that last statement that Bauer should have heard him.

"I need her for this to work," Bauer's voice came over the phone, confirming that he'd heard Gibbs.

"It's a computer thing. McGee can do it," Gibbs offered.

"Has Agent McGee ever even seen a satellite feed, much less know how to read one?" Bauer growled, his mounting frustration clear in the overly controlled tone of his voice.

"Yeah, Probie, have you?" DiNozzo asked McGee.

Gibbs smacked his senior field agent on the back of the head without even having to look. "Not helping, DiNozzo. McGee, answer the question."

"Uh," Tim McGee swallowed. "I-I can read a satellite image but I've never tried to follow a live feed before. I could probably do it but, uh, if I understood Mr. Bauer and Agent O'Brian's discussion just now, not well enough."

"What were they discussing?"

When McGee was silent for a second too long, Chloe got impatient and explained it for him. "Somebody's going to have to talk Jack safely through the hostiles' inner perimeter to get him into the main building and then get him out again. _Without_ his being detected or you're going to have mount a rescue operation just to arrest him. That's if they don't shoot him on sight."

"McGee?"

Not understanding the implied question, the younger agent answered, "Yeah, Boss?"

"Was that what you thought they were discussing?" Gibbs asked impatiently.

"Uh, yeah, Boss. The only experience I have doing anything like that is in computer games. It's not exactly the same."

"Try not at all," Chloe said, unable to completely control her smirk. "Command & Conquer?" She couldn't help asking.

McGee nodded, blushing a little at having to admit it in front of his co-workers.

"_This_ is the guy you want to put in charge of this operation?" Bauer snarled.

That question didn't need an answer, so Gibbs didn't bother. "I guess we have a problem, then, since I'm still not releasing her into anyone's custody."

"It would only be temporarily," Buchanan pointed out before Jack could respond. He didn't want the former CTU agent to say something they'd all regret.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Gibbs muttered, his own frustration with the situation temporarily getting the best of him.

"She's told you everything she knows," Bauer argued. "That was the deal you made. Why exactly are you still holding on to her?"

"The deal didn't involve any immunity for _her_," Gibbs explained to him. "The deal she made with us is what's currently protecting _you_. She's my only link to you and whatever you're in the middle of, Mr. Bauer. In case you've forgotten, you still haven't been completely cleared. She goes nowhere until you hand yourself in or I get solid proof of your innocence."

There was a tense silence as Jack internalized Gibbs' statement. Chloe, hands twisted together from the escalating tension in the room, could almost hear Jack's teeth grind as he considered and rejected possible arguments. The longer Jack was silent, the more uncomfortable she got.

"I don't have to go anywhere," she offered her own solution when the silence became unbearable. "I could do it from here. On my laptop. Agent McGee could – supervise."

Buchanan looked a little startled at the thought that she could use CTU resources from her home laptop. McGee looked a little startled, and a lot nervous, at the suggestion that he should supervise. Gibbs had that thoughtful look again as he eyed her.

"McGee?" The silver-haired former marine didn't take his eyes off Chloe even though he was addressing his youngest field agent.

This time the young man actually understood his boss' implied question. "That I think I could do, Boss."

"You think?"

"I know I could," McGee rushed to correct himself.

"Better. Okay, that's what we'll do," Gibbs decided. "If that's all right with you, Bauer?" he asked the other man sarcastically.

"It's fine." Judging by how clipped those two words were, it wasn't really fine. But it was agreement and that was all Gibbs needed.

"Good. Get on it," Gibbs ordered the two computer geeks. O'Brian seated herself in front of the laptop, McGee at her shoulder. Gibbs thought of something else that needed saying. "McGee."

"Yeah, Boss?"

"You see her do _anything_ even the slightest bit off, you get her away from that machine and you let me know," he ordered. O'Brian rolled her eyes.

"Got it, Boss."

Gibbs nodded. "DiNozzo. Kate. With me."

The two agents exchanged a look and then followed their boss out into the hallway.

"What's his problem?" Chloe grumped, hunched over her laptop.

"I think it's you," McGee answered honestly.

She glared at him with narrowed eyes. "That was a _rhetorical_ question." She turned back to the screen in front of her. "Jack, are you still there?"

"Yeah."

"This is gonna take a few minutes. It's a little more complicated to set up than it would have been at CTU. Do you still have those comm units?"

"Yeah, I've got one in my bag."

"Set it to proprietary one-six-seven. I'll contact you on that channel when I've got everything set up."

"Copy that." He paused a moment. "Chloe…I'm sorry."

Her lips quirked into a sad little almost-smile. "I know, Jack. It's not your fault. I probably should have just left the house before they got there. Of course, then we'd both be on the run. This works better."

"Not for you."

"I'm fine, Jack. I'll get back to you when I've got sat coverage. Proprietary one-six-seven."

He gave a barely audible sigh. "Copy that," he acknowledged quietly. Then the only thing coming over the phone line was the dial tone. Chloe quickly hung it up and concentrated on the task at hand.

--

* * *

_Review. It does a body good._

A/N: In order to avoid false promises, I'll leave it at this: chapter seven is written (last of the character development chappies for awhile, yippee!) and will be posted as soon as I get around to typing it. Peace. Out.


	7. Chapter 7

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 7)  
Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.  
**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either (though I wouldn't mind borrowing Gibbs occasionally), especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television.

**Author's Note: **For once, none. Heh.

* * *

--

"So?" Gibbs turned to his two senior field agents. He kept one eye on the conference room through its glass walls while he stood in the hall to talk to DiNozzo and Kate in relative privacy.

Kate shook her head when Gibbs looked at her. "I'd just be repeating myself."

"You've got nothing new?"

"You were right about that loyalty going two ways," she said with a shrug.

"What?" Tony asked. "How do you come up with that?"

"He really wants to get on with rescuing his friend and he knows he can't do it without help," Kate explained. "But instead of going around us, he's willing to work out a deal to keep her, at least temporarily, out of a holding cell."

"Who else would he call?" Tony asked. "According to his daughter, Chloe O'Brian's the only friend he's got who's still breathing."

"Buchanan," Gibbs said.

Tony stared at him for a second. "You're…not kidding."

"He's right, Tony," Kate agreed. "Buchanan would work with him. And would probably cut us out of the loop if Bauer asked. What I'm wondering is why you said you were still planning to hold her, Gibbs? I thought you'd already decided Bauer was innocent."

"I still think he is," Gibbs admitted. "But my gut feeling doesn't count as solid evidence," DiNozzo's muttered 'since when' earned him a slap to the back of the head as Gibbs finished the sentence, "and I'm not going to risk losing track of him until I get some kind of physical evidence to back his story up."

"That all, Boss?" Tony asked.

Gibbs looked at him, lifting an eyebrow in a silent request for an explanation. Kate was wearing that 'waiting to be impressed' look that she got when she thought he was talking out his ass.

"I'm just sayin', it sounds to me like these guys are terrorists and they're probably after a Navy target. They've definitely already murdered Navy personnel and dependents. It should be our case," Tony pointed out unnecessarily.

"It was our case," Kate pointed out.

Tony glared. "Except that a CTU agent's already involved _and_ they've got someone on the ground. Even if he is technically a civilian, they seem to consider him some kind of honorary agent. That makes CTU the lead agency. Unless we're holding the agent that's involved. Then they _can't_ cut us out of the loop."

Gibbs smiled slightly but didn't say anything.

"Much as I hate admit this, Tony's got a point," Kate said slowly. "If you let Agent O'Brian go, NCIS probably gets cut out of the investigation. Is that the _real_ reason you're still holding her, Gibbs?"

"Not if anybody asks," her boss said.

"And when you refuse to let her go after you get that evidence? Do you really want to antagonize either of them further?"

"Yeah," Tony agreed. "I don't think he likes you very much, Boss. I don't think she does, either. And I've seen both their files. Bad things happen to people who piss them off."

"As long as we don't piss Agent O'Brian off in the meantime, it shouldn't come to that," Gibbs explained.

Kate exchanged confused glances with Tony. "I'm not following," she admitted.

"O'Brian and Bauer are both the kind of people that focus on the mission. Unless she has a _reason_ to leave, once she's set up she'll only resent having to change her base of operations."

"And as long as she doesn't care where she is, neither will he," Kate concluded, impressed. "Very sneaky, Gibbs."

"I keep telling you, Kate, don't work the system when you can work the people," he answered. "And DiNozzo, you heard that part about not pissing off O'Brian?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" DiNozzo asked, all injured innocence.

"It means leave her alone, Tony," Kate clarified. "She's not the type to fall for your so-called charm. And if you push it, you'll just annoy her."

"And since you usually ignore me when I tell you not to flirt with someone," Gibbs added. "Consider this fair warning: if she decks you, I'll assume you deserved it."

With that, Gibbs returned to the conference room. Kate, snickering at Tony's injured expression, followed her boss. Her fellow field agent was grumbling under his breath as he came into the room behind her.  
--

* * *

_Review. It does a body good._


	8. Chapter 8

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter ****6)**

**Author:** thecrystalkey

**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.

**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer**: Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either (though I wouldn't mind borrowing Gibbs occasionally), especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television.

**Author's Note: **Um. So, it's been awhile. Hopefully it will be less than a year before I update this again. Thanks to Ben for editing. I feel I should note that this is now an alternate universe for 24. Jack and Chloe went rogue together (see 'Day 5, Hour 16' even though it's unfinished it's more or less the same universe), took down everyone involved including Logan and then turned themselves in to Gardner.

Also, I just want this on record: Nadia is going to turn out to be evil. If not this season, then next. The reason I know this is that every character named Nadia in the history of television has turned out be evil. I'm not kidding. Look it up.

--

"Jack, it's Chloe." The analyst's voice was a welcome interruption to the comm. silence.

"Go ahead."

"I've got satellite coverage of the area. Only one of three NSA satellites covering that sector has infrared. I'm going to have to reposition it to see the whole compound. How's your position?"

"It's fine. For now. How long is the repositioning gonna take?" Jack fully expected it be to be the usual ten minutes; while he didn't want to wait that long, he'd learned over the years that you couldn't get faster satellite coverage if the system was busy.

"No one's fighting me for it for once," she said, echoing his thoughts. "So it should only be a couple of minutes."

"Copy that. Is there any way for you to identify Mike from the satellite feed?" In the conference room they were using, Jack's quiet voice rasped out over the intercom. Chloe had it coming through her earpiece as well, feeding only Jack's half of any conversation through the conference room speakers, Jack wouldn't be able to hear any of the others unless she un-muted the phone's microphone.

Chloe made a face and replied without missing a beat of her rapid typing. "Sorry, Jack. If he had his cellphone we could track the chip but otherwise…Infrared doesn't distinguish between good guys and bad guys." She paused in her typing for a moment, watching the satellite image as it repositioned. McGee was watching her every command over her shoulder, following her movements with rapt attention.

She narrowed her eyes at the screen and entered a new set of commands, bringing up the blueprints of the building and laid them over the satellite image. "What I can do is get you to a window," she offered. She hit another button and the image changed, going from mostly opaque black to varicolored blotches of light, the most prominent being a number of moving orange-colored ones. "I've got blueprints of the main building laid over the satellite feed. If you can tell me where he is in the building I might be able to isolate his heat signature, then I could keep track of him."

"You're sure?" Jack asked.

"Well, not a hundred percent, but unless you have any better ideas, it's all we've got."

"Okay." Jack said. "We'll do it that way."

"Fine," Chloe agreed. She pulled up a magnified view of the area around Jack and put it in the bottom right corner of the screen, filling the top half of the remaining screen with an overall view of the compound. She selected the lone figure hiding in the bushes and tagged him as Jack.

"Okay." She let out her breath. "There's a patrol about ten feet to your left, looks like a group of four. They'll cross in front of you and will meet a group of five coming the other way. They'll pass each other about five feet to your right. You'll have a limited window to move without being seen. When I tell you to move, go about three feet to your left, there's a creek bed that should give you some extra cover. Follow it downhill." She paused a moment, counting down in her head to the moment the patrols passed each other. From Jack's observations these patrols wouldn't stop to talk to each other but it was a good bet that their attention would be on each other rather than the surrounding area. "Move. Now."

Keeping one eye on the labeled figure of Jack she pulled up a third window to fill the bottom left quarter of the screen. It took advantage of a little known secondary use of this particular satellite, its ability to pick up radio signals. The signals from the compound were on scrambled channels but the program she'd pulled up should be able to unscramble them eventually.

The NCIS agents in the room were following Jack's progress on the big TV she'd hooked a line out to from her laptop; except McGee, whose eyes were glued to her screen.

"Is that their radio signals?" the young agent asked.

"Yeah," Chloe agreed, "it's scrambled. I'm working on it."

Her eyes never left Jack's progress on the screen except to check the positions of the continuously moving patrols. Ignoring the conversation in the background since none of it was directed at her, she talked Jack down the creek bed and through a zigzag path around and between the series of overlapping one- and two-man patrols that made up their inner perimeter.

---

"Boss," McGee looked up from O'Brian's screen to meet Gibbs' eyes. "I think I can unscramble those radio signals faster than the program Agent O'Brian is using. It's on my laptop."

"You're supposed to be watching her," Gibbs said. "Can you do both at the same time?"

"No, Boss," McGee said, slightly exasperated. "But she's not gonna have time to do anything but pay attention to those satellite feeds until Agent Bauer and Mr. Seldler are out of there. This could help them get out alive and you already agreed that needs to happen."

Gibbs glared at him a moment then he nodded. McGee made to go get his laptop which was out in the office area.

"Not you," Gibbs growled. "You stay put. DiNozzo, get McGee's laptop."

Tim held himself back from telling his fellow agent not to drop his computer, since that would only be an open invitation to Tony to play at dropping it. And then he'd probably actually drop it, which wouldn't help anyone. Instead he made a face and went back to his current job, watching Chloe O'Brian work.

---

Kate watched everything from the edge of the room. Gibbs and Buchanan were giving most of their attention to the big screen, watching Bauer's progress; McGee was focused on Agent O'Brian and her screen; DiNozzo was out finding McGee's laptop, and Kate herself was splitting her attention between Agent O'Brian and the big screen.

O'Brian was focused intensely on leading her friend through the minefield of patrols to get him into the compound's main building and she also seemed aware of what was going on in the room around her. But unless a question or comment was addressed directly to her, she ignored them.

Kate had watched a half-dozen similar operations carried out in MTAC in her time with NCIS but had never seen it done by less than an entire team of people. It usually involved at least two field agents, more often an entire team of four or five, and a number of tech people like McGee running the computers. And the whole circus was always run by a senior field agent like Gibbs or the Director who talked the active team through it. Watching an operation this complex being run with a retired field agent by a single tech on her home laptop was…just a little surreal.

But since Bauer was almost at the building and hadn't yet been spotted, they were obviously a highly effective team. And that made it even more surreal. Kate had heard the stories about Jack Bauer from the other secret service agents when she'd been protecting the president; but the only one who knew the man personally, Aaron Pierce, had refused to talk about him.

So she'd put most of it down to over-exaggerated shop talk. She'd figured the legend could never live up to the man; that nobody was that good, or that ruthless, or would be willing to pay that high a price in what he did for his country. Being willing to take a bullet was one thing, being willing to shoot people you knew or risk the lives of your loved ones was something else.

It was becoming more and more obvious that the trust she'd already noted Chloe O'Brian placed in Bauer was returned equally by the semi-retired field agent. If she said stop, he froze in place instantly, and any other command O'Brian gave was as quickly obeyed. She thought about McGee trying to lead Tony or Gibbs through something similar and couldn't see it working. A simple field op was one thing, approaching a suspected terrorist's lair or whatever, but there was a hell of a lot going on in that compound for one person to keep track of much less lead another person through.

Then Tony was back in the room with McGee's computer held triumphantly over his head only to be on the receiving end of a pained look from the probie. McGee grabbed the laptop quickly, while attempting to look like he wasn't trying to get it away from Tony as quickly as possible. The young agent set his laptop up next to Chloe's and was quickly on-line. With barely a sideways glance and only a single phrase of technobabble, the audio program appeared in McGee's screen and disappeared from O'Brian's. Then McGee was working quickly at his own screen, sparing only the occasional glance at the big one.

--

Following Chloe's directions Jack got himself in place just outside an upper level window whose placement concealed him from every approach except through the window itself. He took a moment to catch his breath as he took a quick initial look through the window. There were two levels to the warehouse, the upper one surrounded by a wide, dimly lit catwalk. He wouldn't be able to go in through this window because the walkway itself offered no concealment, but it was a good vantage point for conning the interior of the warehouse.

The lower level of the warehouse was bounded on its long sides by a series of box cubicles a single story high. The ceilings of the cubicles came up to the bottom of the walkway.

"Chloe, I'm looking in the window. I count twelve currently in the main room. There are rooms of enclosed cubicles lining the long sides, do you have those on the building plan?"

"Um, give me a second." There was comm. silence for a moment. "Got 'em. They were a later addition. Not in the main plans."

"They're probably the best place to enter. Find me an empty one and I can get in undetected."

"I'll do my best," she said. There was a pause. "Uh, Agent Gibbs wants to know if you can get pictures of the hostiles on your phone."

Jack held up his phone and snapped a couple of photos but between the distance and the layer of glass, they weren't worth the memory they took up.

"That's a negative," he replied. "Too much distance. I should be able to get some once I'm inside."

"Okay. I've got an entry route for you. Ready?"

--

_Review. It does a body good._


	9. Chapter 9

**Eternal Father, Strong to Save (Chapter 9)**  
**Author:** thecrystalkey  
**Summary:** Jack Bauer has been framed for the murder of a navy petty officer. Local NCIS calls in the best of the best, Jethro Gibbs.  
**Spoilers:** Season 5 of 24, Season 2 of NCIS

**Disclaimer: **Nothing in '24' is mine, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Twentieth Century Fox, Real Time Productions and its creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran. Nothing in 'NCIS' is mine either, especially not the characters that appear, or are mentioned, here. It all belongs to Belisarius Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television. Mike, Jacquie, and Francine Seldler are mine.

--

Jack crouched below and to one side of the ground floor window that Chloe had earmarked for his entry point, glad he'd chosen to wear dark colours the day before. By staying low, silent, and unmoving he could remain undetected here for as long as he needed. Always provided no one got too close to his position. Chloe had picked this spot because it was out of the way and unlit. Jack could think of barely a handful of people he'd ever worked with who would have taken the placement of the outdoor lights into account when directing him to a point of ingress while working off satellite feeds and blueprints.

The former CTU agent was waiting for Chloe to give him the go-ahead for the 'break' part of this break and enter. The window was the kind that opened out from the bottom and had, as far as Jack could tell from a quick glance into a darkened room, a simple lock. It would be a tight fit but given the weight he'd lost recently there was no doubt that Jack could make it through. Easy. Except that nothing ever was and those goddamned patrols weren't giving him even the ten seconds he needed to jimmy the lock. Chloe, watching them from above via the satellite, would let him know when the coast was clear.

He was burning with impatience but managed to stop himself from making any comments that Gibbs might use as an excuse to throw Chloe back into a holding cell. Jack was just thankful at this point that Command-and-Conquer boy wasn't running this. He'd have taken whatever help he could get, of course, even if meant being arrested on stepping foot out of this compound, but that conversation had made him wonder why in the hell a man as supposedly competent as Gibbs had a guy like that on his team.

Maybe this McGee was new, even Chloe hadn't had any experience with reading satellite feeds when she'd first started and she'd been hired directly to Tactical when they'd had a separate IT unit. Still, Jack was glad to have someone of known competence and experience handling the tech end of this mission.

"Jack," the analyst's soft voice broke into his thoughts, "you should be clear to move in another minute or so. I'll count down at 30 but I thought you should know that Agent McGee's managed to break their radio encryption. He's monitoring their comms now. They don't seem to suspect anything yet but at least now we'll know if and when they do."

Jack didn't acknowledge the communication, doing so here and now could very easily compromise his position, but he knew that she knew that and didn't expect an answer. He waited.

"You're go in thirty, twenty-nine, twenty-eight…" the familiar voice counted down the seconds and Jack prepared himself to move, which basically consisted of trying to relax tense muscles so that he could move smoothly and quietly when the time was right, and sliding free the lockpick kit he never left home without anymore. "…three, two, one. You have thirty-seven seconds, give or take, until the next patrol is within visual range."

Jack was deep into working on the lock before she ever finished speaking. He didn't check his watch, it was a given that she'd count down on the ten second mark; her subtle way of telling him to get in or get gone ASAP.

"Thirty seconds," she announced.

Jack cursed to himself, in his head. It would have been safe enough to talk quietly with the area clear but his mouth held the pick he'd intended to use on the window lock while he drew his knife. He hadn't noticed until he'd tried to slip the pick into the crack between the window frame and the window. The damn thing had been painted shut on the outside. Jack wondered as he chipped the paint away whether it was a deliberate security measure or sloppy painters. Given how easily the paint came off under the blade of his knife it was the latter but it was still time he couldn't really afford to spend at this point.

"Twenty seconds," Chloe stated, still in her calmest professional tone.

Finally the seam at the bottom of the frame was clear of paint and it seemed, since Jack got his lockpick tool all the way through the tiny space there, that it hadn't been sealed the same way internally. It only took about five seconds to actually trip the latch and pull the window open. It creaked as Jack pulled it open, though the current necessity for silence made it seem more like a shriek to the former CTU agent. He waited a moment, taking a deep breath and waiting for Chloe's voice to warn him that someone was coming running at the noise. Instead she announced, "ten seconds. You'd better hurry, Jack."

He wrenched the uncooperative window open to its full extension by brute force, and managed, by feeding one arm up first, to get his head and shoulders past the sill. He got a grip on the inner wall and pulled his hips and legs through, letting gravity help him once his center of balance was over the sill. He pulled his feet in as Chloe began to count down from five and managed to pull the window shut before she reached one.

"I'm in," he rasped, before she could ask. He lay panting for a moment, taking stock of any new injuries and putting away both the lockpicks and the knife. He'd lost skin in a few new places on that scramble through the window but nothing seemed to be bleeding. When his eyes were properly adjusted to the semi-dark of the room, Jack moved.

There was no window in the door to the room. Jack listened at the door for the telltale sounds of movement immediately outside the door. He heard distant voices rising and falling in the cadences that marked an argument to his experienced ears, though he couldn't make out any details. There seemed to be no one in his immediate vicinity. Chloe would warn him of anyone she saw from overhead but you didn't live through as much as Jack Bauer had without learning to double-check what you could.

The former agent opened the door a short ways, careful to make as little sound as possible, and peered through the narrow gap. Jack could see that the black SUVs he'd noticed before were parked next to a van that fit the description he had of the one Mike had been bundled into downtown. They must have brought him straight here after he'd escaped before, unwilling to risk that the defense consultant might have compromised the location of his previous prison.

Between Jack and the vehicles were three tables, set at angles to each other. One held computer equipment, multiple workstations though only one was currently in use; another held weapons and ammunition laid out in neat lines. The central table, which a group of five was gathered around, held papers and a laptop. This group had been the source of the distant argument, Jack could see the four men were disagreeing vehemently with the one woman in the short skirt standing with her back to the former agent.

Her profile seemed familiar but Jack couldn't place it. It was only when she turned that he recognized her face. The assassin named Mandy. It was the work of a second to get a photo of her on his cell phone. He snapped images of each of the men around the table as well before pulling back and easing the door closed.

"Chloe, I'm uploading photos of what looks like the command group. Run them on every available database," Jack ordered. "I recognized one of them. She's an assassin, first name Mandy. She was issued a presidential pardon several years ago so her details should be on file but she probably wasn't telling the truth when she gave them to us."

"Copy," she answered.

Something pinged on her laptop and she typed the commands to bring up the series of images from Jack's phone. They were faces, slightly blurred but not enough to give her trouble. A few keystrokes set the images processing until they were crisp and clear.

"I've got them," Chloe informed him. "I'm cleaning them up to run facial recognition. I'll let you know if any of the others get a hit."

"Copy," he acknowledged. "I'm changing position to look for Mike."

The analyst's eyes assessed the satellite feeds even as she set the facial recognition software running. "You're clear for 50 yards in every direction. The command group is southwest of you and I'm picking up another grouping – much smaller – to the northwest, near the wall. It looks like there are three or four of them but, Jack? You should know, I think I'm getting interference from some of the cargo containers. Be careful."

"Copy that," Jack acknowledged softly.

Chloe watched the former agent begin to move on the screen, watching the path ahead of him to make sure it was clear.

"Some?" Gibbs asked.

Chloe muted her mike. "It's weird. It's not every container and it's almost random. It's at a really low level, too. I probably wouldn't have noticed it except that some of the signals start fading when they got too close to a few of the cargo containers."

"What might cause that kind of interference?" Buchanan asked.

"Does it matter?" Kate asked.

"Yes," Chloe and McGee chorused.

"If it's electronic," McGee continued, "boosting the satellite signal might cut through it. If it's some kind of heat shielding…"

"Either way they're hiding something," Gibbs concluded. "And that makes me want to know what."

"If we can figure out what's causing it, it could give us an idea of what they're hiding," Buchanan suggested. "Chloe?"

"We need to boost the signal," Chloe informed McGee.

"Right," the young agent agreed.

--

Jack moved through the maze of cargo containers stacked one and two high. His gun, silencer on, was out and ready – his right hand and the weapon down by his thigh. He moved slowly for the combined reasons of stealth and weariness. He'd been up now for 36 hours, barring a few catnaps while waiting for intel. His body was demanding consideration in spite of the adrenalin once again coursing through his system.

Judging by the quality of the silence in his ear, Chloe had muted her end of the connection. That was neither unusual nor particularly worrying. She had a roomful of people to deal with back there; it would only distract him to hear her half of those conversations. She'd pass on anything he needed to know and she'd keep an ear on him.

All of Jack's attention was on his current surroundings; on keeping his movements silent and on listening for anyone nearing his position. Chloe would warn him of any danger she saw coming but she'd already told him that something was interfering with her infrared scanner. Not that he wouldn't have been alert in any case; nobody was infallible and better careful than dead. The former CTU agent was also keeping track of his direction – making sure that he was moving towards the other heat signatures instead of going in circles.

"Jack," Chloe said quietly in his ear, "I'm seeing…something ahead of you. It could just be a glitch but, be careful."

Just then he heard the telltale sound of feet scuffing in the dirt. A moment's listening told him it was no more than one set. After a moment's thought, Jack tucked his gun away. Silenced or not, it would still make a certain amount of noise and the argument still going in the corner might not entirely mask it. Better to make no noise at all since he had the warning.

Jack took a deep breath and stepped around the corner, coming face-to-face with a very surprised armed man. He had the hostile in a silencing throat-lock before the other man could cry out, much less reach for his weapon. As the other man semi-successfully fought his hold, Jack tried to hook a foot around his opponent's ankle. The former black ops soldier grunted as he fought to get a decent grip on his squirming enemy. When he finally got the hold he wanted on the man's jaw. He grunted again with the effort as he snapped the hostile's neck with one quick, harsh movement.

He took the opportunity to regain his breath as he began to relieve the corpse of potentially useful items. There was a 0.45 caliber pistol along with two extra clips, an unfamiliar laminated ID badge, assorted keys on a key ring, and a thin leather wallet with some cash and an unmarked white plastic card with a magnetic strip on the back. When he was done, Jack contemplated the body and his surroundings for a moment before quickly and efficiently stripping the military-olive jacket and pants from it. He pulled the slightly too-small clothes on, his own black t-shirt blending well enough not to need changing, and stowed his own clothes back in his bag before he began retracing his route dragging the body behind him. There was a spot nearby where some of the containers had been stacked no more than two feet apart. Their placement created a shadowed alley that was perfect for hiding an average size body, alive or dead. He'd noted it for his own possible use when he'd passed it earlier.

Once he'd concealed the dead body, he began to move towards his target with a bit more speed. The adrenaline from the fight had kicked his systems temporarily into higher gear and discovery was only a matter of time now that there was a body on the ground. He hadn't been far from his goal when he'd run into the hostile. Now he just hoped like hell that Mike was with this second group of heat signatures. Otherwise he was going to have to search every damned little nook and cranny in this place and that would take time he didn't have.

Moments later, Jack paused as Chloe urgently informed him that he was nearly on top of the heat signatures he'd been searching for. He stayed still for several moments, listening, and heard the scuffing of boots up ahead - he couldn't tell how many from the sound – and the creak of shifting leather, probably a holster. A man, closer to his position, coughed weakly ending with a quiet groan.

Jack dropped low and moved around the side of the container, ducking his head briefly around the corner when he reached the far end of it. A fraction of a second was all it took for him to get a snapshot of the situation ahead of him.

There was a small open space up ahead, bounded loosely on four sides by cargo containers which consequently blocked that area from view from the rest of the warehouse. It was essentially a holding pen. There was a drafting table set up at the centre of the open area. Slumped over the table was a familiar figure. Legs shackled to the legs of the chair on which he sat was Mike Seldler. The other man was working at the table – his movements slow and pained. The dried blood and the bruises visible on the side of his face gave mute testimony as to why. Leaning against the containers farthest from Jack was an armed guard, watching Mike with bored disinterest.

Jack retreated a few yards, far enough away not to be overheard by those ahead of him when he contacted NCIS. There was something missing with his picture of the situation ahead. Chloe had said there were three or four heat signatures and she would have told him if that had changed.

"Chloe, do you still have me on infrared?"

"Yeah, Jack. You're a little faint but you're there. We're working to boost the satellite signal."

"Good. But we may not need it much longer. I found Mike. He's injured but he's alive and conscious." He heard the analyst's soft sigh of relief but ignored it. "I can see one guard and Mike from my current position. Mike's in the centre of an open space ahead, his should be a stationary signal."

"Got him," she stated, ruining her air of total confidence a moment later by adding, "I think."

"Good." Jack ignored her addendum as irrelevant. Odds were good that she had the right person and they'd all know for sure soon enough.

Surrounded by armed hostiles in overwhelming numbers, stealth and speed were their only hope for a successful escape. Mike's injuries would slow them down on foot and, even if Jack did manage to take the guards down silently, discovery was only a matter of time once he'd gotten his former colleague free. The DOD engineer was presumably working on something for his captors and they would be checking on his progress regularly. Once he'd made his move, there would be no stopping until they were clear of pursuit. Any other strategy would get them caught or killed. Jack remembered what he'd seen of the warehouse's layout so far and began to form a plan.

"Chloe, I need you to transfer the satellite feed to my phone. I have a plan."

--  
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End file.
